Thursday, June 13, 2013

Solving The Universe: The job of an Astrophysicist

Guest Post: by Shannon Lawrence

Solving The Universe: The job of an Astrophysicist by
Shannon Lawrence

The universe is
vast and mysterious. From subatomic particles, to enormous spinning galaxies.
Mystery en-veils everything. Is their life on other planets? Could we
eventually live on other planets? Overall, what makes the universe tick?
Questions like these may deter some, but for others this is a problem that
needs to be solved; and Physics is the solution. Astrophysics (a branch of
Physics) deals with the phenomena that happens in the macro-scale such as black
holes, Multi-verse theory, and the infamous anti-matter that is more common
than real matter. For the dreamer and star gazer, Astrophysics is a dream job.

Astrophysicists
spend most of their time writing theories or experimenting depending on which
sub field you enter. If your a theoretical Astrophysicist then you deal with
phenomena on a theoretical view point. You have to support your idea's with
facts and then an experimental Astrophysics will try to prove it using
technology or by writing a computer program to simulate what would happen if
the theory was applied. NASA and other organizations will hire for this job,
but you get payed more for working for the smaller organizations. The pay you
get will depend on the following variables; time schooling, what you went to
school for, experience, and time you've been with them. The average money you
can get is between 100k per year to 150k per year.

To prepare to be a
theoretical astrophysicist you need to have either a lot of determination or a
lot of skill in science and math. The field is a very limited one since there
are only a handful of places that will hire an astrophysicist, so getting in is
tough. To prepare you should be in the highest classes of science and math and
have many extra-curricular activities so that you may get into a good college
(once again because selection is so limited you need to be the top of the top
and focus your life around this goal) You also need a natural love for science,
math, and the universe and be naturally curious. From middle school to high
school the best thing to do is get a 4.0 grade average (pretty much everyone
who goes to Stanford has a 4.0 or above and most are musically endowed) Along
with this, you should try to get teacher recommendations later in High school
so that you can get into a good college.

The overall goal of
an Astrophysicist is to solve the mysteries of the universe, but that doesn't
impact society much. The things physicists have contributed is their knowledge.
For instance, computers, air planes, cars, and pretty much any technology you
see is made from an Engineer, who can make these incredible things because of
our understanding of physics. Although many aren't aware of the physics of our
world, it does make up everything you see and everything you do.

Overall physicists
are very under rated. They help with our understanding of everything around us.
Creating the foundation of technology which drives our growing world. This
career path is a hard and peculiar one, but the laws we humans discover will
benefit us for as long as our race continues and forever after it ends. This is
an amazing field and is filled with surprises. For the young star gazer, this
truly is the dream job.

Author Tamera E Lawrence

As a child, I had a vivid imagination and many imaginary playmates. I read anything I could get my hands on and wanted to write books like Laura Ingalls.

In high school, I aspired to become a writer. But life for me took a different turn. I married young and had 2 small boys before I could blink an eye and began helping my husband achieve his own goals. So writing took a back seat as I concentrated on running an excavating business. Along the way, we had four more children, making us a family of 8.

Whew! Still, I wrote in my spare time, writing mostly poetry. As my children grew, I wrote my first novel. It was 150 pages long. I sent a sample to an agent, who remarkedly called me and told me I had talent. He said my book needed to be about 350 pages and that I needed to learn to polish my material. I was thrilled.

So... I took some writing courses, learned how to write, edit and polish. I met a teacher and author, who took me under her wing and showed me how to use POV as well as keep a story flowing. Her influence has greatly helped me in the way a college never could. "THE POND" was half written when I began my schooling and I finished the book in 2007.

I have 2 more books that I am currently working on. I would have to say that my writing a novel comes second nature to me and the challenge now is writing the perfect query letter. It's amazing how I can write 400 pages of a novel and yet struggle with that one single letter.